"Where did the verse you quote come from, Leenia?"

I have a cassette tape of songs by Martin Carthy. I've had it quite a few years. I liked this song, but found some of the broken rhymes ad weak rhymes irritating. Over time I have folk-processed some of them. This verse may have been one of them. The idea of the original, that the dead girl floats to the millpond, remains intact.

The next verse, which remains unchanged, is

Next comes along the miller's young son,
Hey the gay and grinding.
"Father dear, here swims a swan,"
By the bonnie, bonnie bows of London.

It is one of my favorite ballad verses, because it manages to say so much in so few words.